Description of a new British Fish. 17 



Art. III. Description of a new British Fish. By Edward Moore, 

 M.D. F.L.S., Secretary to the Plymouth Institution. 



I transmit, for insertion in your Magazine, a description 

 and rough sketch of a fish caught on the usual fishing- 

 ground between Plymouth and the Eddystone, by the crew of 

 a trawl sloop belonging to Mr. Bulley of this town, and 

 brought fresh to me by Mr. W. Snow Harris, F.R.S. ; in 

 which state it was also seen by Lieut.-Col. C. Hamilton 

 Smith. It has since been inspected by Mr. Couch of Pol- 

 perro and Mr. Yarrell, both of whom pronounce it new to 

 Britain. The characters are as follows : — It is the Peri- 

 stedion Malarmat of Lacepede and Cuvier, Trigla cataphracta 

 Lin., Mailed Gurnard. Its length is 1 1 in.; from the nose 

 projects a forked snout 1 in. long, the divisions being half an 

 inch apart at the base, where there are three small mammil- 

 lary projections. From the snout to the base of the pectoral 

 fin, it measures 3^ in. ; the head is armed with numerous 

 tooth-like processes, of which three are placed triangularly 

 on the nose, six over the eye, three larger on the forehead, 

 and thence they extend in a serrated manner, down the back 

 to the tail. The orbit of the eye is oval ; iris silvery ; a pro- 

 jecting bony ridge extends across the cheek-plate, from the 

 nose to the base of the pectoral fin ; the jaws are cartilaginous 

 and toothless ; the chin is furnished with several cirri ; at 

 the under side of each division of the snout are three open- 

 ings, covered \ 'th a delicate membrane, through which a pin 

 can b easily passed down to the nose. 



The body is octagonal, covered with bony scales, laid over 

 each other like a coat of mail ; from the centre of each scale, 

 forming the edge of the octagon, there projects a sharp hook- 

 like process, together forming eight serrated ridges from 

 head to tail ; the hooks are all shaped as in fig. 2. b, except 

 on the last twelve scries of the superior lateral ridge, where 

 they assume the character exemplified in^. 2. a. Their num- 

 ber is as follows : — Dorsal ridge, twenty-nine scales ; supe- 



Vol. I. — No. 1. n. s. c 



